Fewer interceptions quarantine organisms in import 2014

The Netherlands Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority (NVWA) found significantly fewer quarantine organisms during import inspections of plants and plant products from countries outside the European Union in 2014, the report 'Fytosanitaire signaleringen 2014' says.

Quarantine organisms are organisms that are harmful to plants, not native to the Netherlands and not present in the EU. With import inspections and control actions, the NVWA wants to prevent these harmful plants, animals, bacteria and viruses to settle in the Netherlands and other European Union countries. The organisms form no threat to public health.

On an annual basis, around 350,000 shipments of potatoes, vegetables, fruit, flowers, plants and seeds are offered for import inspection in the Netherlands. In 2013, the NVWA found 438 harmful organisms in inspections. In 2014, this number was 370. Findings of Spodoptera littoralis, a moth from Africa and Asia that can cause significant damage to fruit, vegetable and flower cultivation, halved.

The decrease of the number of findings shows that tight import inspections, and the European exchange of information about findings, is bearing fruit. Countries and companies are tightening their procedures and warranty systems, so they can keep importing in the Netherlands and the EU.

In addition to the import inspections, the NVWA also carries out surveys in the cultivation of a large number of crops and in public spaces, in order to find and exterminate diseases and pests at an early stage, such as ring rot in potato cultivation and the Asian long-horned beetle in green spaces. In 2014, no ring rot or brown rot were found. The number of findings of Meloidogyne chitwoodi, Meloidogyne fallax and Ditylenchus has increased though.

For more information, see the report Fytosanitaire signalering 2014 at the NVWA website.